Saturday, May 14, 2011

Eurovision 2011: The Wrap-Up & Final Results

Well that was a most exciting three and a half hours!

Ell & Nikki of Azerbaijan, 2011 Eurovision winners

Azerbaijan made history this evening by winning the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time. As per custom, they will host next year’s contest at a location to be determined. Italy, returning to the contest for the first time in over a decade, claimed the runner-up spot. Sweden’s Eric Saade, whose fans were locked in a bitter Internet rivalry with fans of Russian Alexey Vorobyov, earned enough points to place third.

It’s notable that when points were awarded to certain countries, the audience in attendance loudly booed their disapproval. Not wanting to ignite international warfare over pop music, the Blogger will simply attribute the placement of each entry to each country’s preference. The number of points any one entry gets in one nation will not necessary get points in another country. Some quarters have also accused nations for voting for their neighbours. One example is the perennial mutual awarding of top points between Greek and Cyprian entries, as well as those between Portugal and Spain. Nevertheless, as I mentioned in my previous article, despite the hand-wringing at this practice, what Eurovision succeeded in doing was bringing countries together. And unlike FIFA, there’s no four-year wait for the contest as it’s on every year!

For those of you who missed it, here is the order of finish for Eurovision 2011 and the videos of each respective country’s entries, after the jump:

Azerbaijan – Ell & Nikki, “Running Scared”

Italy – Raphael Gualazzi, “Madness of Love”

Sweden – Eric Saade, “Popular”

Ukraine – Mika Newton, “Angel”

Denmark – A Friend in London, “New Tomorrow”

Bosnia & Herzegovina – Dino Merlin, “Love In Rewind”

Greece – Lukas Giorkas feat. Stereo Mike, “Watch My Dance”

Ireland – Jedward, “Lipstick”

Georgia – Eldrine, “One More Day”

Germany – Lena, “Taken By A Stranger”

Special mention must be made of an entry with perhaps the most, um, unusual costumes: behold, Moldova.

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About Me

"My grandmother often said, "Learn to write, Yelena, because it is a piece of bread." In the Russia of my youth, it was a prestigious thing to be a writer. Even if you had no money, people still felt your life was graced by art." - Yelena Khanga